In grocer's shops, goods are more and more frequently sold in bulk to satisfy the requirements that the amount of packings be reduced. The handling of foodstuffs in bulk (for instance beans, tea, flakes and grain) today takes place but to a limited extent. In many cases, open containers are used, from which the customer scoops bulk goods into a bag. Alternatively, the containers have discharge valves which require two movements of the hand, i.e. one for opening and another for closing. This arrangement causes spillage and hygienic inconvenience.
PCT Publication WO 94/13536 shows and discloses a method and an apparatus for distributing bulk articles. A mobile dispenser is charged with the bulk article and is then placed in a location where a customer or user is intended to fill a bag or some other packing with the bulk article in question. The dispenser has a storage container which is intended for the bulk article and which at its lower end has an outlet valve. When the outlet valve opens, the bulk article slides under the action of gravity downwards along an inclined plane to a cellular feeder or intermediate storage unit which is essentially circular-cylindrical in cross-section. When discharging the bulk article, a valve plate included in the cellular feeder is pivoted upwards through the actual bulk article body to interrupt the flow of bulk article down into the bag or packing. The publication indicates safety devices for preventing the cellular feeder from being emptied if a suitable bag or some other suitable packing is not available for reception of the discharged quantity of bulk article. This prior-art apparatus suffers from the drawback that the arcuate valve plate of the cellular feeder, during operation of the cellular feeder, must be pressed upwards through the bulk goods on the inclined plane. During its movement, the front edge of the valve plate hits the particles which therefore counteract a continued movement. In many types of bulk goods, the resistance to the movements of the cellular feeder can be so great that the customers find it inconvenient or impossible to use the dispenser on their own.
EP-A-0 286 194 discloses a different bulk goods dispenser, in which a slide valve is used to discharge bulk goods from the lower end of a storage container. The slide valve has a slide with a compartment which is open upwards and downwards and which can be moved from a filling position to an emptying position and whose bottom in the closed position of the valve is formed of a bottom surface in the storage container. In the emptying procedure, the compartment is pulled out from the container, such that the goods enclosed in the compartment can fall down through a discharge nozzle. When pulling out the slide valve there is a great risk of particles of the bulk goods being pinched between the slide valve and an edge of the bottom of the storage container.
SE-B-355,935 shows and discloses a storage device with a dispenser for particulate bulk goods, in which a reciprocating cellular feeder of a similar type is used. This known dispenser suffers from the same drawbacks.
AU-A1-56805/80 shows and discloses a storage and dispenser apparatus which is particularly intended for packets of cigarettes and the like and which also has a reciprocating slide. This slide has a recess whose shape corresponds to the shape of the package and which is open downwards in order to hand over, after the movement to the emptying position, the packet of cigarettes or the like to a discharge chute or a discharge compartment. A similar device is disclosed in SE-B-502,253. These prior-art devices are not adapted for distribution of the type of bulk goods involved in the present case.